Sustainability

b. traven The United States, in Tom Engelhardt’s words, has become “the most dangerous country on earth.” And it is not because of our incessant military adventures. It has been simmering since before WW II, with right wing groups in this country who had favored Fascist Germany as a buttress against Socialism which they felt…

Jacek Popiel Americans live in a perpetual now, and the now of 2016 is looking decidedly grim. A quick summary of our current situation: U.S. finances are shaky, with an exploding national debt, two economic crises since the year 2000, and the next one possibly around the corner. The once superb U.S. economic machine has…

W.J. Astore The other day, I was watching a typical truck commercial on TV. It showed trucks literally tearing up the backroads, along with ATVs spinning and jumping and chewing up the countryside, all synonymous with “adventure” and “freedom.” I remember those old Coors commercials featuring Mark Harmon. They were set in Colorado (I think)…

Chris Hedges (Courtesy of Truthdig) The increase in nihilistic violence such as school shootings and Friday’s lethal assault on a Planned Parenthood clinic, the frequent executions of poor people of color by police, and the rise of thuggish demagogues such as Donald Trump are symptoms of the collapse of our political and cultural institutions. These…

P.J. Sullivan Americans have a powerful affinity for predators. Our national symbol, the American eagle, is a flesh-eating raptor, the top predator of the skies. The pets we dote on, cats and dogs, are carnivores. We kill for them and invite them into our homes, even into our beds. When Cecil the lion was killed…

Daniel N. White Detroit, its economic and physical collapse and failure, has been a staple story of the press for better than three decades now. Everyone who ever lived there has their story about it, and me here in Austin, Texas, hell, I now have mine. Just got back from a funeral of an aunt…

Jacek Popiel For years our financial press and media have hailed the rise of China to the rank of global power. Such phrases as “the Chinese miracle”, “the workshop of the world” or “the engine of the global economy” and “the Asian (meaning China’s) century” have become common parlance. The tone started changing, quite suddenly,…